Canyon Land and Great Basin National Park

Date: 01/07
City: Selina, Utah
Miles ridden: 224
Cumulative miles: 8106

In the morning we went to the Canyon Land National Park. To be honest, I thought this park wouldn’t hold any surprises for us, we’ve seen it all.  Before we entered the National park we saw a stone formation called ‘Monitor and Merrimac’ in reference to two battleships in the independence war. Looking it up in wikipedia, the stone formation did really resemble the form of these two ships.

In the national park we looked around to see if we could find something interesting. We found the Upheaval Dome Overlook. It’s a spot where a large meteorite hit the ground and left a crater. Well at least some scientists believe that, other think it is a natural occurrence. We drove to the crater and then went for a short hike. It’s hard to see on the picture, but looks like a meteorite crater. As usual, the weather was on the warm side (97 Fahrenheit), so we decided that this was enough of hiking for the day.

From here we continued to other viewpoints by car. And wouldn’t you know it, I was surprised again. Looking at the pictures it becomes obvious where the ‘Canyon Land National Park’ gets its name from.

 


Then we drove to Salina where Sigrid had booked accommodation the day before. On the way we passed a couple of impressive mountain ranges.

Date: 02/07
City: Austin, Nevda
Miles ridden: 409
Cumulative miles: 8515

Today we were heading direction Reno. On the way we saw smoke from a wild fire. We were hoping that this was a controlled burn but heard later in the news that unfortunately this was not the case. From the highway we could spot flames along the ridge of a mountain, but luckily the highway veered away from this mountain range.

On our way we passed the Great Basin National Park so we had a look and asked the rangers for advice on what to check out . They recommended the scenic drive and the caves. The overlooks were quite nice! On one side there were the mountain ranges and to the other side there was the plateau, which we just came through. From this view we could see the huge circles of crop in the middle of the dessert.


After the view point we checked out the cave. In the car park at the Lehman’s visitor centre, we saw a deer eating the leaves of a fruit tree, ignoring the cars and the visitors all together. The caves surprised us again. We have been in a couple of caves before, but the variety and colour of the formation was extraordinary, there were formations of popcorn and curtains, disks and the ‘normal’ stalactites and stalagmites.

We were quiet happy that we took our jackets and changed into long trousers before we went into the caves. The temperature there was around 50F (10C) and outside it still was in the high nineties. From there we attempted to drive loneliest road, highway 50. The landscape reminded us very much of the Nullarbor Plain, but it was surrounded by hills. When it started to get late we stopped at Austin for the night.



 

Date: 03/07
City: Drytown, California
Miles ridden: 343
Cumulative miles: 8858

Got up early to get to Reno and to visit the BMW shop, yippee, shopping time for me!! J
We had a look at trousers, jackets, helmets and gloves. The only thing that was available in my size was the trousers, but that’s not bad for a start.

I read in the morning that the BMW shop in Sacramento would have 15% off on all gear, so we decided to get there next. Before we did we went to McDonalds to talk to Progressive insurance, McDonalds has free WiFi and my phone stopped working for unknown reasons. So we had a short cruise through Reno, which reminded me a bit of Las Vegas.

At McDonalds, we got hold of the bike insurance. They got a bill from the Modesto health department, so we clarified that this should go to our travel insurance and that the hospital has all the details. Finally we drove to BMW Sacramento, more shopping for me. On the way we passed Cisco grove. Maybe there are routers and switches growing on trees. We didn’t’ stop to investigate J.

Once we finally arrived in Sacrament and went shopping, they didn’t have the jacket in the right size either but the gloves were right. So we decided to order the helmet in matt black and the jacket and get it sent to the hotel in Modesto. The shop assistant, Adam spent quite a while with us to get things sorted out; he was really patient with us!

After the exhausting shopping spree we drove to a township called Drytown. It is a small township on a scenic road not too far from Sacramento. Here we found a nice Motel with a restaurant, where I got a nice spicy omelette.


At night we talked to Wombat and Val in Alaska and saw some pictures via Skype of the beautiful view from their window. At this time of the year it really doesn’t get dark over there. Would have been fun to be there.. then again its nice and warm here and no rain…. 😛

3 comments

  1. Hallo, Sigrid und Bjoern!
    Mir ist – als ich Fotos aus 3 Wochen Reisen sortiert habe – aufgefallen, wie toll es ist, dass Ihr so viel Zeit fuer Euren Blog einsetzt. Ihr muesst ja Fotos sichten, auswaehlen und auch noch Texte schreiben. Schoen, dass Ihr uns an Euren Erlebnissen teilhaben lasst. Hugs Ria

    PS: Hier regnet es nicht mehr. Wir waren heute zum Swing Tanzen im Strandbad Weissensee. Sehr schoen. (Kleiner Tipp fuer Eure Berliner Fans  )

  2. Nice! Comments will be a bit sporadic from now on as I am taking Anne on a little trip… 😉 Hope to read lots more about yours! Andrea xoxoxo

  3. Hi Siggy and Bjoern,
    So nice to see you again last night and spend some time together. I am reading your blogs and “catching up”. What an adventure you are having. Hope your wrist is healing , Bjoern. Will continue to read all and learn from you sitting at my computer! Fondly, Judy

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